Council tenants in Nuneaton and Bedworth face a hike in the rent they pay to the borough council from April.

Senior councillors are expected to rubber-stamp increases of 4.5 per cent for the average tenant at next week?s cabinet meeting.

For the majority of the thousands of tenants, it will mean a hike of between #2 and #2.50 a week.

The news is not unexpected. Local authorities throughout the country are being asked to increase charges annually to bring council rents into line with those charged by private sector landlords.

Under the government?s rent reforms, all rents - both in the public and private sectors - will be identical by the year 2011/2012. Scores of tenants in Nuneaton and Bedworth have exercised their right to buy during the last year, but the remaining 6,513 tenants on the council?s books all face rent increases.

Increases will vary from property to property, but it means that 284 tenants face an increase of under #1.50 a week, 2,097 tenants face increases of between #1.50 and #2, and 2,845 tenants will be asked to pay between #2 and #2.50 a week more.

For a further 1,287 tenants in the borough, the increase will be more than #2.50 a week.

A report to next Wednesday?s cabinet meeting at the town hall says: ?Last year was the first year that councils and registered social landlords were required to make progress towards rent convergence in 2011/12. The rules apply to both sectors and mean that rents for similar properties in similar locations will eventually be the same, no matter who the landlord is.?

The report says the average rent increase across the borough will be #2.16 per week, (4.5 per cent), giving an average rent of #50.79 a week.

But it adds: ?As each property has its own target, the individual increases vary quite markedly, with the minimum increase being #1.04 (or 1.77 per cent) and the maximum being #3.80 (or 8.9 per cent).? Examples of what it will mean include:

A tenant in a three-bedroom house in, say, Kingswood Road, Nun-eaton, will see their weekly rent increase from #64.12 to #65.25 - an increase of #1.13 or

1.77 per cent - while someone living in a two-bedroom second-floor flat in Word-sworth Road, Bed-worth, will see their rent go from #38.66 to #42.10 a week. That equates to a #3.44 increase, or 8.9 per cent.

Other examples include the rent of a ground floor flatlet in Byford Court, Nun-eaton, rising from #44.74 to #45.78 per week (up #1.04 or 2.32 per cent).